Iceland was able to recover from financial collapse because it is outside of the EU

The president Iceland does not see any reason for his country to join the European Union:

Iceland’s revival from its financial collapse and the prosperity of nations outside the European Union show that membership in the bloc isn’t needed to achieve economic success, President Olafur R. Grimsson said.

“There are a few countries in the world which have succeeded the way Switzerland has,” he said today in an interview in Davos, Switzerland. “And then look at Norway and my country, Iceland, which has recovered from a financial crisis more effectively than Europe. So it’s difficult to argue the case that you have to be in the EU to be successful.”

As the EU battles to rescue the 17-nation euro region from the debt crisis, Iceland has recovered from its financial collapse in 2008, leading the country’s 320,000 citizens to question the logic of joining. 

Read the entire interview here

The president was rather diplomatic in the interview. He could have said, that if Iceland had been a member of the European Union, it would NOT have been able to recover.